After 10 years, and many fits and starts, the Durham City Council has a plan for bringing affordable housing to the site of the former police headquarters in downtown Durham.
At the March 19 work session, the city council received a presentation that offered two possible scenarios. Both include building 80 units of affordable housing on a portion of the 505 West Chapel Hill Street site using the competitive 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) from the federal government, which the city would have to apply for and win. The units would be available to folks earning at or below 60% of the area median income (AMI).
The main difference between the two plans stems from where to construct the parking. The first scenario suggests an 80-space surface parking lot adjacent to a newly constructed building. The second scenario—preferred by the majority of the city council—suggests building five stories of housing on top of two floors of structured parking. The latter plan would increase the necessary funding needed for the project, but ultimately, the structured parking would save the city money by allowing it to use the remainder of the property in a more productive manner.
“I want to note that the requirement for parking is not a City of Durham requirement,” said council member Carl Rist. “That comes from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. We eliminated parking minimums for the reasons we’re talking about here. We don’t want to take high value land in the middle of the city and encumber it with parking.”
The six-member working group that delivered the presentation, composed of local residents with expertise in housing, suggested scenario two, with the developer receiving a long-term ground lease at nominal cost from the city. Building housing on top of structured parking could allow for an additional affordable housing development with 55 units on the site in the future.
But to create any momentum for the project, the working group insisted the city move quickly to select a developer “with a proven track record in Durham” by July to develop a plan for the first phase of the site.
“We are concerned that if you did some sort of formal RFP or RFQ process, you wouldn’t have sufficient time to really undertake that and still have a developer with enough decision time to submit an application in January,” said Gregg Warren, former president of DHIC and a board member of the Raleigh Housing Authority. “So that’s why we’re really pressing for the July time frame.”
Advocates have been pining for affordable housing on the site for nearly a decade. Since 2018, after the city council identified affordable housing as its highest priority for the site, staff has churned through development plans amid poor market conditions and rising construction costs. The Peebles Company, a development firm with a national portfolio, mutually agreed with the city to end its recent attempt at a site plan in June. At a work session in December, the city council organized the working group and tasked them with delivering a path forward.
City council members were pleased to have a viable option that included much-needed affordable units at the March 19 meeting.
“I’m sitting up here feeling really good in a way that I actually haven’t felt about this project since I’ve been on this council,” said council member Chelsea Cook.
In addition to building affordable housing, folks have encouraged the city council to preserve the former police headquarters, which was designed by noted modernist architect Milton Small. To do so, the city would subdivide the property and sell the building to Preservation North Carolina for rehabilitation.
Rehabilitating the building is estimated to cost at least $25 to 30 million, according to Mark Kubaczyk, director of economic development consultancy HR&A, who presented at the December 4 meeting. Plans for the Milton Small building could include additional market-rate or affordable housing, a hotel, or an office.
While the newest plan was welcomed by many on council, as well as others who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, not everyone was completely satisfied with the available options.
The proposal for the overall site is mostly focused on housing and amenities, like a playground and outdoor green space. City councilors and folks from the working group discussed the possibility of street-level retail that would be accessible to the public, and expand the growing offerings along the Chapel Hill Street corridor into downtown, but given the parameters of the current affordable housing proposal, retail would be difficult to include.
Anne Branly, chief operating officer at Downtown Durham Inc., read remarks on behalf of DDI CEO Nicole Thompson, asking the city council to take a broader look at how the future of the former police headquarters would interact with the long-term vision for the greater downtown area, and whether this current plan would keep fidelity with the Downtown Durham Inc. master plan.
“We recognize the need to expand affordability and also believe further dividing the site without considering all the interconnected factors will make it difficult to realize its full potential,” Branly said. “ … You are in a unique position to ensure that what happens at this important location continues to fuel Downtown Durham’s growth and vibrancy. The site serves as a gateway and is located near several other development opportunities.”
Mayor Pro Tem Javiera Caballero echoed concerns that focusing solely on housing doesn’t line up with adopted plans for downtown or maximize property tax revenue from the site.
“We have talked a lot about keeping people downtown, having people have a full life full of amenities with the goals of a 15-minute city,” Caballero said. “I think when you put a lot of residential potentially right next to a road, people are just going to get in their cars and drive away and that does not necessarily help.”
On a site this large, in the middle of downtown, giving everyone what they want will be an uphill battle.
“There is a risk we have seen borne out over the last 10 years of trying to do things that reflect every single value we have that we want to put on one site as a council and as a city,” said councilmember Matt Kopac. “So we may not have every value reflected on this site, but we’ve been shown that there is a path to have affordable housing, to preserve the Milton Small building, to be able to have future redevelopment options, to really fully activate the space in a signature way once marketing conditions allow.”
City staff is set to bring options for possible developers and a more thorough plan for the site before the July deadline suggested by the working group. The developer will have until January to submit an application for the federal tax credit program.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified HR&A as a community development company.
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